This river cruise is the bomb. The Netherlands is beautiful, the cruise people fall all over each other to help, there’s always someone to help Mom on stairs and gangways, the food is terrific and there’s far too much of it for my waistline.
Waistline, schmaistline! Live it up! So glad to hear there’s lots of help for Mom.
I have read every discussion on this thread and I want you all to know how much it means to me to know that others are dealing with the same issues I am.
Took a few days vacation to deal with an emergency that breaks my heart. I received a call while at work that my mom had left her lovely assisted living facility in the early morning hours before they opened. She was spotted just a few minutes later and when questioned she told them she was going to school and that it was 1942. So now we begin the transition to a memory care center…No openings at this time, so in the meantime I have been staying there nights and taking her to the memory care wing part time. I just hired a caregiver this AM to stay with her from 9pm to 9am. Yay!!! The worst part is that she does not like memory care and is really mad at me! I am praying that she will meet a friend there who is just like her - someone who has recently arrived and still has some mental acuity. As many of you know who have been in this situation, you have no choice. Hopefully tomorrow will be like the movie “Groundhog Day” and we can start over again with everyone happy
So sorry, ksm. I hope your mother adapts to the memory care unit quickly.
Ditto, ksm. And especially hoping that a bed opens up for her ASAP!
Haha, Fang, clearly the internet access is good. Hope you see lots of tulips.
Ksm, if you read it all, more or less, maybe you saw the tales of how dehydration or UTI can affect some of this. Best wishes.
Sending good thoughts that things settle down for your mom, Ksm.
CF – I’ll be looking for more details about the cruise. So far (apart from the fall) it sounds pretty wonderful. Are you getting out for bike rides?
I just got back from a bike ride. I got kind of lost, but then I realized I was in a beautiful park with bike paths, and it was only a problem if I let it be a problem. So I just rode around for a while and then figured out where I was.
Mom’s having a great time. Many of the exclusions involve too much walking for her, but there was a cruise through the canals of Amsterdam (which I’m in love with) that we could all enjoy. The great thing is that the ship is compact, with only 150 passengers, so she can’t get lost and she doesn’t get tired just getting from place to place on the ship.
This morning Mr. Fang and I were out on the sun deck-- this being the Netherlands, no sun was in evidence-- as we cruised along a pastoral river, passing cows and sheep in the fields. The only sounds were birds singing. I wished I’d brought my binocs to check out the birds.
CF, go to Keukenhof! It’s an hour and change from Amsterdam by bus. Spectacular gardens – they are open through next Sunday. They have wheelchairs available (push kind are free, electric ones cost a little). I went there when I was 12 and it’s on my bucket list to return.
http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/
@CountingDown, me, too! We lived in the Netherlands for a year. Last time I was at the Keukenhof, I was 10. There was a pedestrian “bridge” made of bands of concrete with water in between: my younger cousin fell in the water when she missed a step. Lol, forever in our memories!
We are definitely going to Keukenhof-- that’s one of the reasons that we picked this trip.
CF, what ship again? I’m trying to plan this exact trip for next spring.
The line is AMA. We’re on the Sonata.
Can’t wait to hear more details - just ordered the AMA brochures for my mom!
What else do you want to know, runnersmom?
Yes, it sounds like a lovely trip! Are the tulips in bloom? Are the bikes rented by the hour? Biking through a nice park sounds idyllic! Glad you “went with the flow” and enjoyed it. So glad your mom is enjoying the cruise and can find her way around the boat. I would enjoy a smaller boat, like the one you describe too. Who is AMA? American Medical Association?
AMA is the name of the cruise line. Their ships have musicky names, like AMA Sonata and AMA Lyra.
The tulips are in bloom! Yesterday on my bike adventure I came on a tulip farm. The Keukenhof will have many many tulips. This morning Mom and Sis went to the Het Loo Palace, which also had stunning gardens with tulips. When I got back from the bike ride this morning, Mr. Fang and I headed to an open air market with stalls for everything: fish, vegetables, cheese, fabric, nuts, and also flowers. They were practically giving away the bunches of flowers: 2.25 Euros for a bunch of tulips or roses. And apparently according to the cruise director this is the expensive time for tulips. Less than three bucks a bunch didn’t seem expensive to us.
Oh, and the bikes are free as a part of the cruise.
Sounds like I’ll be looking into this cruise as well. Sounds so lovely!
Have you cruised much before? How does the cabin size compare? I love the small ships, and before my dad died, my parents cruised a lot. She really wants this particular itinerary…it’s on her bucket list!